Today I took Averi in for her one year check-up. She weighed in at 15 lbs 6 ozs (she’s lost weight since being sick for 2 weeks), measured 27 in, and had a head circumference of 16.75 in.
I’ve stopped giving Averi yogurt since she got that rash, in hopes that we could try again when she was feeling better. Dr. Stevens checked her out and said that she is healthy and we can try adding it back in again.
She got four immunizations, two in her leg and one in each arm (this is something new). The nurses are always amazed how easily she calms down if I just put her up on my chest and let her suck her thumb. It’s like magic.
For once it was a pretty non-dramatic visit. He assessed her and she’s delayed but still at a decent spot for everything else that’s going on. I have to admit, it’s nice not having a ton to write about. Hurray for healthiness!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
PT: Week 6, Not Fair
Since my friend Tina is in town, Dan took today off work and volunteered to take Averi to PT. I woke up to find a picture on my phone with the following note attached: “Guess who sat for over a minute by herself?!” (I can’t get the picture off my phone.)
Keep in mind that he has never even been the facility before, much less endured an OT or PT session while trying to keep track of Kaili like I do twice every week. How is it fair that he is the one that gets to see her sit for the first time by herself? If he wasn’t doing me a favor, I’d be much more upset.
I’m sure they worked on all the other normal stuff, but that is the only thing I remember him telling me. Now I just have to see if I can get her to do it at home.
Keep in mind that he has never even been the facility before, much less endured an OT or PT session while trying to keep track of Kaili like I do twice every week. How is it fair that he is the one that gets to see her sit for the first time by herself? If he wasn’t doing me a favor, I’d be much more upset.
I’m sure they worked on all the other normal stuff, but that is the only thing I remember him telling me. Now I just have to see if I can get her to do it at home.
Monday, May 10, 2010
OT: Week 15, Late
This morning I woke up, exercised, got ready, got the girls up, looked at the clock, saw it was 8:15, thought it was 7:15, panicked, threw the kids in the car, and called Frances to let her know that we would be about 35 minutes late. I have no idea how my internal clock got bumped back an hour but it most definitely did.
Frances told me I didn’t have to come but I really wanted to since Averi hasn’t really taken anything orally since getting sick almost two weeks ago. When we got there, I quickly fixed a bottle and Frances was able to use chin support and get an ounce in Averi before it was time to go. Hopefully next week will be a little bit more productive…and we’ll be on time.
Frances told me I didn’t have to come but I really wanted to since Averi hasn’t really taken anything orally since getting sick almost two weeks ago. When we got there, I quickly fixed a bottle and Frances was able to use chin support and get an ounce in Averi before it was time to go. Hopefully next week will be a little bit more productive…and we’ll be on time.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Birthday Cake
Averi is finally starting to feel a little bit better so I decided to make her birthday cake today. I am glad to say that she delivered.
For Kaili’s first birthday I made a baby cake and put a hemangioma on it’s forehead so it would look like her. We thought it was only appropriate to make an Averi baby cake, complete with heart scar and Mickey Button.
Kaili was way more excited than Averi.
The first grab.
We took a ton of pictures, along with a really long video that I will not bore you with, so I tried to just pick out the best ones. At one point she surprised us and went face first into the cake.
When she was done with the cake she moved on to her foot.
That's right, I did that.
I was really worried she wouldn’t know what to do with it, but she managed to make a very good mess (with the help of her big sister). I even found out later that Kaili pulled out the Mickey and sucked it off. It had been washed but it had also spent the last few months in Averi’s stomach. Mmmmm!
Happy Birthday again Averi.
For Kaili’s first birthday I made a baby cake and put a hemangioma on it’s forehead so it would look like her. We thought it was only appropriate to make an Averi baby cake, complete with heart scar and Mickey Button.
Kaili was way more excited than Averi.
The first grab.
We took a ton of pictures, along with a really long video that I will not bore you with, so I tried to just pick out the best ones. At one point she surprised us and went face first into the cake.
When she was done with the cake she moved on to her foot.
That's right, I did that.
I was really worried she wouldn’t know what to do with it, but she managed to make a very good mess (with the help of her big sister). I even found out later that Kaili pulled out the Mickey and sucked it off. It had been washed but it had also spent the last few months in Averi’s stomach. Mmmmm!
Happy Birthday again Averi.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Speech Evaluation
Now that Averi is a year old and just barely starting to babble, we were referred for a speech evaluation. Of course we had to go to the other side of Columbus for it, but the lady was really nice and Averi enjoyed playing with her bubbles.
The evaluation took about 1.5 hours and she concluded that Averi is at the level of about a 6-9 month old, which isn’t as bad as I thought. She said that Averi will definitely need speech therapy but it probably won’t be much good right now since she isn’t talking yet. The waiting list is long so she went ahead and added Averi’s name to it.
She called me back later today and said that she had heard about a new monthly group program that encompasses OT, PT, and Speech Therapy. I told her we would give it a try. For now she just wants us to keep working on imitating sounds and trying to get Averi to repeat them back to us.
On a funnier note, I noticed tonight that Averi’s steroid had run out in half the time it was supposed to. I immediately assumed the pharmacy hadn’t given me enough. Dan then pointed out that I had been giving her 1 tsp twice a day instead of ½ tsp. Opps!
I called the pediatricians office and the doctor said that Averi was going to be alright, that she didn’t need to go to the ER, and that I would have to get another prescription to wean her off the medication. Nice, my daughter is addicted to steroids because of me and I now have to wean her off of them slowly so she doesn’t go into withdrawals.
The evaluation took about 1.5 hours and she concluded that Averi is at the level of about a 6-9 month old, which isn’t as bad as I thought. She said that Averi will definitely need speech therapy but it probably won’t be much good right now since she isn’t talking yet. The waiting list is long so she went ahead and added Averi’s name to it.
She called me back later today and said that she had heard about a new monthly group program that encompasses OT, PT, and Speech Therapy. I told her we would give it a try. For now she just wants us to keep working on imitating sounds and trying to get Averi to repeat them back to us.
On a funnier note, I noticed tonight that Averi’s steroid had run out in half the time it was supposed to. I immediately assumed the pharmacy hadn’t given me enough. Dan then pointed out that I had been giving her 1 tsp twice a day instead of ½ tsp. Opps!
I called the pediatricians office and the doctor said that Averi was going to be alright, that she didn’t need to go to the ER, and that I would have to get another prescription to wean her off the medication. Nice, my daughter is addicted to steroids because of me and I now have to wean her off of them slowly so she doesn’t go into withdrawals.
Monday, May 3, 2010
What Doesn't She Have?
Averi was already sounding croupy when we went to the Neonatal Clinic on Friday, so we decided to forgo letting her eat her birthday cake until she is feeling better. She actually did alright for her birthday, but by last night she was feeling awful.
Sometime during the night she decided that sleeping in the swing wasn’t helping her breathe, she managed to obtain a pretty decent fever, and she even threw-up all down my back. (I tried to decrease the mess by leaning over the crib and instead dripped all over everything – not the best idea.)
By this morning I was glad I had called OT last night to cancel and instead packed up and headed to the pediatrician’s office. I was a little hesitant because the last time she had croup the doctor simply told us to keep an eye on her and sent her home. By the time this visit was complete, I was glad we went.
Apparently Averi has croup, an ear infection (which took about 20 minutes to see because her ear canals are so small and the pediatrician had to keep cleaning them out while I held her down), an upper respiratory infection, the beginnings of pneumonia, and possible asthma.
He gave her a breathing treatment, which helped to calm her breathing, and sent us home with three medications and a breathing treatment inhaler. This is now what her morning and bedtime cocktails look like.
So that we wouldn’t have to pay for a whole aerosol machine, the pediatrician gave us an inhaler and a breathing chamber (not covered by insurance). Let’s just say that Averi doesn’t love having this thing held over her face for extended periods of time.
Hopefully this isn’t foreshadowing of what her second year has in store and she will start feeling better soon.
Sometime during the night she decided that sleeping in the swing wasn’t helping her breathe, she managed to obtain a pretty decent fever, and she even threw-up all down my back. (I tried to decrease the mess by leaning over the crib and instead dripped all over everything – not the best idea.)
By this morning I was glad I had called OT last night to cancel and instead packed up and headed to the pediatrician’s office. I was a little hesitant because the last time she had croup the doctor simply told us to keep an eye on her and sent her home. By the time this visit was complete, I was glad we went.
Apparently Averi has croup, an ear infection (which took about 20 minutes to see because her ear canals are so small and the pediatrician had to keep cleaning them out while I held her down), an upper respiratory infection, the beginnings of pneumonia, and possible asthma.
He gave her a breathing treatment, which helped to calm her breathing, and sent us home with three medications and a breathing treatment inhaler. This is now what her morning and bedtime cocktails look like.
So that we wouldn’t have to pay for a whole aerosol machine, the pediatrician gave us an inhaler and a breathing chamber (not covered by insurance). Let’s just say that Averi doesn’t love having this thing held over her face for extended periods of time.
Hopefully this isn’t foreshadowing of what her second year has in store and she will start feeling better soon.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Happy Birthday!
It’s hard to believe that a whole year has passed since our beautiful little baby girl was born and life forever changed as we knew it. A lot happened during Averi’s first year of life, a lot more than anyone should have to undergo in an entire lifetime, but she has endured it well.
At some points, time seemed to be standing still, but in whole, the last year has been a blur. It seems like forever ago that we were spending every waking hour inside the dark walls of the NICU.
It’s so strange to think that Averi is a whole year old, but I’ve decided that part of my denial is due to the fact that she doesn’t act like a one year old. Averi, we are so proud of you and so grateful that you decided to join our family.
We celebrated Averi’s birthday by going out to get frozen custard, which was obviously more for me than it was for her.
The beautiful birthday girl. I LOVE those eyes. They show her every emotion.
Nutrition gave us the go-ahead to start slowly adding dairy into her diet, so we started her off with a few bites of yogurt and a small taste of custard. I’m not sure how she felt about it.
After dessert, we went to a Greek restaurant (more dairy and soy!). Everyone sang to her and they even gave her a piece of cake. We let her tear into it, even though she couldn’t eat any of it.
As it turned out, she was more interested in eating the napkin anyways.
Kaili was a great big sister and helped her eat her cake (the rest of us did too).
Since it was her birthday, we thought it was only appropriate that we attend the 5K Buddy Up Walk for Down Syndrome. The weather was beautiful! My dad even came up for the weekend to spoil us and help us keep a decent pace during the walk.
Kaili couldn’t wait to get her face painted and we couldn’t leave Averi out. Note the shirts that Dan’s parents sent the girls for Averi’s birthday – “My Sister is my BFF.”
At the end of the day, we went home and let Averi ‘open’ her presents. It was a perfect day. Happy Birthday Averi! We love you.
At some points, time seemed to be standing still, but in whole, the last year has been a blur. It seems like forever ago that we were spending every waking hour inside the dark walls of the NICU.
It’s so strange to think that Averi is a whole year old, but I’ve decided that part of my denial is due to the fact that she doesn’t act like a one year old. Averi, we are so proud of you and so grateful that you decided to join our family.
We celebrated Averi’s birthday by going out to get frozen custard, which was obviously more for me than it was for her.
The beautiful birthday girl. I LOVE those eyes. They show her every emotion.
Nutrition gave us the go-ahead to start slowly adding dairy into her diet, so we started her off with a few bites of yogurt and a small taste of custard. I’m not sure how she felt about it.
After dessert, we went to a Greek restaurant (more dairy and soy!). Everyone sang to her and they even gave her a piece of cake. We let her tear into it, even though she couldn’t eat any of it.
As it turned out, she was more interested in eating the napkin anyways.
Kaili was a great big sister and helped her eat her cake (the rest of us did too).
Since it was her birthday, we thought it was only appropriate that we attend the 5K Buddy Up Walk for Down Syndrome. The weather was beautiful! My dad even came up for the weekend to spoil us and help us keep a decent pace during the walk.
Kaili couldn’t wait to get her face painted and we couldn’t leave Averi out. Note the shirts that Dan’s parents sent the girls for Averi’s birthday – “My Sister is my BFF.”
At the end of the day, we went home and let Averi ‘open’ her presents. It was a perfect day. Happy Birthday Averi! We love you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
